Jack Rieley
Jack Rieley (born John Frank Rieley III, November 24, 1942 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin)[1] is an American record producer.[2] He was the manager of the Beach Boys during the early 1970s, and is credited with guiding them back to acclaim.[3] He would also sometimes act as a co-songwriter with the rest of the band, usually penning lyrics.[4][5]
He also worked with Kool and the Gang.[2] He was described by New Statesman as "a radio DJ turned career mentor."[6] The Beach Boys met Rieley, while promoting their album Sunflower, and hired him as their manager.[7]
Although there are many books and articles about the Beach Boys, Rieley was rarely interviewed before November 2007 when he was interviewed by Flasher.com in relation to the documentary Dennis Wilson Forever.[8] The first seems to have been in summer 1982, for the UK fanzine Beach Boys Stomp.
Musical contributions
He wrote and co-wrote lyrics to several of the Beach Boys songs[9] including "Long Promised Road", "Feel Flows", "Sail On Sailor", and "Funky Pretty". He sang lead vocal on "A Day in the Life of a Tree". He also narrated the bonus disc for the Holland album: "Mt. Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale)".
According to Mark Holbcom, Rieley convinced the band to move their families and studio to Amsterdam for eight months in 1972 to record their album Holland, costing Warner and the Beach Boys a small fortune to produce. Rieley quit his job as manager of the group after their return to the US.[7]
In 1975, Rieley released a solo album, Western Justice: recorded in Holland in collaboration with Machiel Botman, it dealt with the treatment of the old world powers by the newly emerging third world in the context of a global weather crisis. Rieley took the lead vocal on three songs, including the title track.[10]
In the 1990s Rieley collaborated with several artists including Mark Gardener of the UK group Ride as well as with Jaye Muller and Ben Patton of the writing/production team Muller and Patton.[citation needed]
References
- ↑ "A Beach Boys Timeline 1917-2009". Archived from the original on 2012-06-30.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Washington Post, Jan 17 1993, online edition (needs signup)
- ↑ Jack Rieley Breaks Silence on Beach Boys in Flasher.com Interview: Interview, PRNewswire, Nov 2, 2007.
- ↑ OVERSEAS: USA: Looking for a New England; The open spaces of Vermont attract Americans and foreign buyers alike: The Independent, May 25, 2005, discusses "the Beach Boys' former manager and song-writer Jack Rieley"
- ↑ Bacon, Tony; Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio. San Francisco, CA: Backbeat Books. p. 6. ISBN 0-87930-818-4.
- ↑ "New Statesman - Washed-up". Retrieved 2007-12-30.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Mark Holcomb. The Beach Boys (Rock & Roll Hall of Famers) (Chapter: The Rieley Factor). New York: Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 77–81. ISBN 0-8239-3643-0.
- ↑ "[Jack Rieley on Dennis Wilson]". Retrieved 2007-12-30.
- ↑ Carlin, Peter. Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. Emmaus, Pa: Rodale Books. p. 182. ISBN 1-59486-320-2.
- ↑ Understanding rock: essays in musical analysis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. 1997. p. 52. ISBN 0-19-510005-0.
Further reading
- Gaines, Steven S. Heroes and Villains. Dutton Adult. ISBN 0-453-00519-5.
